COMMERCE CITY — Vice presidential hopeful Joe Biden pushed for an overhaul of America's economy to a largely Latino middle-class crowd at a high school here, and called for an end of negative campaigning in the final weeks on the trail.

Speaking to a crowd of 1,500, Biden said he and presidential hopeful Barack Obama want a three-month moratorium on home foreclosures and a tax cut for small businesses that provide health insurance.

"The American dream is becoming more distant to millions and millions of Americans, mothers and fathers who see the tables have been turned on them," he said. "If you work hard, if you play by the rules, if you believe in your country, there is nothing you can't do.

Biden Visit

Browse a slide show of photos of Sen. Joe Biden campaigning in Colorado Springs and Pueblo on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008.

Browse a slide show of photos of Sen. Joe Biden campaigning in Colorado on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008.

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In two stops in Colorado today, Biden said Republican opponent John McCain has trailed off substance in favor of character-bashing in recent weeks, and it isn't helping the vast majority of the country through the current economic crisis.

"If he's really serious when he said that this election is all about he economy, then I say, John, stop your ads, bring down those robo calls, if it's about the economy, argue about the economy, not about Barack Obama's character," he said to a screaming, standing crowd in Greeley earlier today. "They hurt you, they divide the country, our country cannot take four more years. It must stop now."

On Wednesday, Biden is headed to Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

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It's his first time back in Colorado since the Democratic National Convention. Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin visited northern Colorado yesterday.

Both campaigns are pounding toss-up states where early voting started Monday. Biden has reason to push Coloradans to vote now, since most polls put the ticket a few percentage points ahead here. Biden acknowledged Gen. Colin Powell's endorsement over the weekend, but said, "Polls and endorsements do not determine the outcome of an election, votes do," he said.

The crowd in Commerce City - largely working class Hispanic voters - said Biden's speech helped energize the community. Both former Denver mayor Federico Pena and Obama Commerce City field organizer Lucy Molina spoke Spanish to the crowd before introducing Biden.

He joked when coming on stage that someone else was going to translate his speech to Spanish.

"I can barely speak one language," he said.

Adams City High School teacher Ramiro Loera said he was on the fence before the speech, but says now he supports Obama and Biden. His brother has been to Iraq three times, and he needed to hear Biden's message to bring the troops home.

"I wanted to see where things are going," he said. "But I'm going to vote for him now."

Biden blended his message of change with a tribute to the United States' strength. He also repeatedly said that he and Obama were ready, perhaps compensating for a comment he made over the weekend where he said Obama would be tested in his early days as president.

"Never have I seen a time in our modern history when so many Americans have been knocked down," Biden said. "I promise you America is ready, I'm ready, Barack Obama is ready. It's our time, it's America's time."

McCain took Biden's weekend comment on the campaign trail yesterday, saying he has already been "tested."

"My friends, they won't test me. I've been tested," he said in a speech in Pennsylvania.

In Greeley and in Commerce City, he didn't touch on western issues or clean coal technology, despite a few people in the Greeley crowd wearing "clean coal" hats. Biden instead focused on the economy, Obama's tax plan and the ending the Iraq war. He also strived to put President George Bush and McCain in the same box on the economy.

"If it looks like a Bush, if it sounds like a Bush, if it votes like a Bush, it is a Bush economic philosophy," he said.

Biden will likely talk about the war at greater length tomorrow in Colorado Springs - a conservative stronghold with an Army base and the Air Force Academy.

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.

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